Innovative Approaches to Support

Conservation Outcomes; Examples From

Collaborative Initiatives in Alberta

Karen Raven P. Ag.

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry

Finding Common Ground

Between the Agricultural

Industry and Wetland Policy

April 19, 2018

Leduc, Alberta

B. Adams

Overview

• Why Do We Need Innovative Strategies?

• Collaborative Approaches, Offsets, Ecosystem Services• Alberta Prairie Conservation Forum and Alberta NAWMP

• Southeast Alberta Conservation Offset Pilot

• Red Deer County ALUS Prioritization Project

• Models and Assessments • HOLOS analysis of Economic and GHG impacts impacts of BMPs

• Alberta Peas Lifecycle Assessment and Environmental Product

Declaration

• Challenges and Successes

Why do we need innovative strategies

and policy tools?

• Status Quo is not working

• Regulation is one tool

• What works now may not in the

future

• Incentive or certification based

approaches can drive positive

change

• Recognition of private costs for

public benefits

• Integrated approaches for

multiple benefits

Beneficial Management Practices for Renewable

Energy Projects;

Reducing the Footprint in Alberta’s Native

Grassland, Parkland and Wetland Ecosystems

Alberta Prairie Conservation Forum

Alberta NAWMP

Gramineae Services Limited

Reducing the Footprint in Alberta’s Native

Grassland, Parkland and Wetland Ecosystems

Prairie Conservation

Forum and Alberta

NAWMP Partnership:

• Multi-stakeholder

workshop

• Occasional Paper

• Extension materials for

key audiences

Southeast Alberta Conservation Offset Pilot

K. Raven, R. Dunn, T. Goddard, M. Weber, T. Zimmerling, B. Downey, P. Jones,

K. Redden, J. Nicholson, D. Eslinger, S. Petry, B. Adams, M. Alexander, D. Britton, R. McNeil

Offset Pilot

Multi-stakeholder Partners:

• Within Government of Alberta

• Alberta Conservation Association

• Alberta Innovates Technology Futures

• Alberta Innovates Bio Solutions

• Dr. C. Gates, University of Calgary

• Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute

• Industry (Oil and Gas, Wind, Utilities)

• Landowners

• University of Alberta

• LandWise Inc.

Collaborative dialogue and decision

making

Conservation Offset Approach

Voluntary Offset for

any new industry

impacts on native

prairie within the Dry

Mixedgrass Natural

Sub-region

Agricultural offsets to

incent conversion of

marginal cropland to

native species mix within

high priority areas

Offset Suitability Index

Develop an approach to target voluntary

offsets on private agricultural land parcels

with the best potential to improve landscape

level native wildlife habitat.

Method:

• Workshop 1

– Identify important factors to achieve

outcomes

• Identify or develop GIS supported data for

factors

• Participants complete Delphi process and

Analytical Hierarchy process

• GIS analysis

• Final decision support map

Results:

Offset suitability index based on

17 ranked criteria

– Land Use Intensity

– Native Prairie

– Native Prairie Block

– Proximity to critical habitat

– Riparian, Lentic and Lotic

– Ungulate winter range

– Movement corridors

– Ecologically sensitive areas

– Parks & Protected areas

– Proximity to critical sage grouse

habitat….

Alternative Land Use Services (ALUS)

Prioritization Tool

Red Deer County ALUS ProgramRed Deer County ALUS Committee, Ken Lewis, Mathew Muehlhauser, Karen

Raven, David Spiess, David Hildebrand, Longin Pawlowski

Red Deer County ALUS Prioritization

• ALUS Prioritization Statement

“The ALUS Prioritization Process will allow Red Deer County to target

the ALUS Program on those riparian areas (on agricultural lands) with

the greatest potential to increase ecosystem services.”

Additional emphasis identified in workshops:

Upland areas, go beyond riparian, other ecosystem services, ensure

high value ag lands remain…….highlight complementarity of ag and

environmental stewardship……

WBCO –Density of All Wetland

Classes & Stream Orders-

provincial wetland inventory, ordered stream network

RFWF – Riparian Function, Water

Filtration

Government of Alberta Riparian mapping project

Quality update spreadsheet, wetlands inventory and stream network

SCAR - Scarcity of the Habitat or Land

Form

Ecologically significant Areas (ESA)

H4SAR – Scarcity of Habitat for Species

that are Endangered or At Risk

Density of occurrence of species sightings

Final Ranked Factor Map:

Priority areas identified for Ecosystem Services

associated with riparian areas and other values

Alberta Peas

Life Cycle Analysis and Nutritional

Assessment

&

Environmental Product Declaration

Aung Moe, Kerrianne Koehler-Munro, Roger Bryan

Nutritional and Environmental

Assessment of Alberta peas

• Lifecycle Assessment

Alberta Peas

• First agri-food commodity to have

a certified environmental product

declaration (EDP) in North

America

Economic and GHG Impacts of

Winter Feeding Non-Pregnant

Cows

Sheilah Nolan, Olivia Sieniewicz and Barry Yaremcio

Alberta Agriculture and Forestry

Context

• Carbon footprint of beef

concerns consumers and

multi-national companies

• Farmers and ranchers want to

show they’re good stewards,

and remain in business

• Efficiency improvements have

reduced GHG by 15% from

1990 to 2011 (Legesse, et al.,

2015)

• Can cow-calf

operators continue

to lower GHG

emissions and

costs?

Can cow-calf operators continue to lower

GHG emissions and costs?

Beauchemin et al 2010, Life cycle assessment of GHG

emissions from beef production in western Canada: A case

study, Ag. Systems (103) 371-379

Vulcan Case Study

Goal:

• Identify management options for

cow-calf operators that can

increase productivity ($ / unit) and

reduce GHGs (CO2e / unit)

Baseline:

• AAFC case study of GHG from

beef production, Vulcan

• Management Options: Winter

feeding diets for non-pregnant

(open) cows HOLOS is a whole-farm model and software program that estimates

greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions based on information entered for

individual farms.

http://www.agr.gc.ca/eng/science-and-innovation/results-of-

agricultural-research/holos-software-program/?id=1349181297838

Emissions and Costs per kg Gain

Opportunity to lower costs and emissions by culling, but if

choosing to not to cull

– Efficiency gains may be possible using different diets to lower

costs and emissions

– Subject to changes in diet ingredients and feed prices

Challenges and Successes

Successes• Multi-stakeholder Collaboration

• Leveraging Scarce Resources

• Ensuring an Integrated

Approach

• Minimizing potential

unintended consequences

• Recognizes incentive based or

non-regulatory approaches

• Recognizes economic

efficiencies and environmental

stewardship

Challenges• Need multiple tools to achieve

conservation objectives

• Models –data and expertise

• Policy gaps can limit opportunities

and outcomes

• Voluntary approaches may not be

economically viable

• Ensuring an integrated, landscape

level approach

• Acting locally or Provincially with

international implications

Questions?

karen.raven@gov.ab.ca

Photo: Ducks Unlimited